YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS. The National Security Service (NSS) is operating on a heightened mode to rule out any vote buying attempts ahead of the general election, NSS director Artur Vanetsyan told reporters.

“There are people, groups in our view that are attempting to make preparations for distributing vote buying bribes, but let me mention that this is happening not within the framework of instructions from party offices, but these are various groups rendering the so-called bear’s services in various areas. Taking this opportunity, I call on everybody not to take this kind of adventurism, because we have long arms, and we see everything,” Vanetsyan said.

Asked who these bear’s service rendering people work for, Vanetsyan didn’t specify, but said: “Various, for example, someone’s a district candidate, has summoned friends and are thinking how to garner many votes, they find people and say – we’ll give this much money, vote for us, they make arrangements. The Criminal Code says that promising an electoral bribe is a criminal offense in itself. Whenever we reach a stage that a concrete promise exists, these people will be immediately held to account,” he said, adding that the police have sufficient resources to tackle similar attempts, but if needed the NSS – as a law enforcement agency – will carry out its powers by law.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan